“I am meeting with some important men soon,” said the King. “I need my wits to be sharp and my mind clear. Do you have some little puzzle that will give my thoughts a spark?”

She smiled, thought a moment, and then set the following position before him.“Pawns against pieces,” the King murmured, and his eyes sparkled when he noticed “and two light squared bishops!”

“The task,” she told him, “is for White to checkmate the black king in six moves.”

“Well, let’s try 1.b7 Bxb7 2.d7 checkmate – no, no, that is hardly the best defense for Black, is it?”

The king smiled broadly and began to study the position.

“How droll,” he said presently. “What do you make of this?” and he played out on the board: 1.f7+ Bxf7 2.d7+ Bxd7 3.b7 Bfxe6 4.Kf6 a3 5.g8=Q+ Bxg8 6.c8=Q+ Bxc8 7.bxc8=Q#

“Of course, I could have reversed my first two moves with the same result.”

She coughed gently and reminded him “The task is to checkmate in six moves, Majesty.”

“Oh,” said the King, with little loss of enthusiasm. “Well, then, let’s try 1.b7 as before, although Black has the much better 1…Bcxe6. I promote my pawn with 2.c8=Q+… and Black slyly responds 2…Kf7 for what little good it does him: 3.Qxe6+ Kg6 4.f7+ Kh5 5.fxg8=Q Kg5 6.Qh8 a3 7.g8=Q checkmate!”“Oh, no” the King sighed. “That’s seven moves again.” He returned to deep thought.

Finally, the King smiled. “At last, here it is. 1.b7 Bcxe6 2.c8=N! The under-promotion is the key. Of course, Black cannot take the knight, just like he could not take the queen before, because then 2…Bxc8 3.bxc8=Q+ Kf7 4.Qf5 Ke8 5.f7+ Bxf7 6.Qc8 is checkmate. In six moves.”